Cross Country: Cards 10th in Louisville event

The George Rogers Clark Cross Country team competed in the Greater Louisville Classic at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park last weekend.  
Final results were not available until Monday after press time.
"We noticed issues with the results and requested that the meet tapes be viewed,” Clark coach Dodd Dixon said.  
The 72-hour wait was worth it for the Cardinals, as the team moved up in final team standings. Clark placed 10th out of 51 schools competing.
Eastern High School in Louisville placed first. Clark’s regional rival Pulaski County was fifth, Henry Clay placed 15th, Woodford County was 28th and Scott County was 40th.
Alex White led the Cards with a 13th place finish in the field of 385 boys varsity runners. White completed the course in a season best time of 16:37.17.
Pulaski County's top runner was Jimmy Goldson. Goldson placed eighth with a time of 16:23.14. Goldson seeks to unseat White atop the region. On Saturday, Goldson got the best of White.
This year’s regional competition will be held at Lykins Park on Nov. 5.
"We have five weeks until region,” Dixon said. “The team has been working on endurance work for three months. Today, the team starts it's speed work.” Dixon predicted that the results would be different in November.
Grayson Brookshire was Clark's second finisher. Brookshire ran the 5K distance in 17:14.36. Ben Petrey ran one of his best races ever finishing in 18:08.33.
Brandon Bailey followed Petrey with a time of 18:22.49. Cody Cox had a personal record time of 18:42.56. Rounding out Clark's varsity roster were James Banks (18:54.94) and Clay Dixon (19:21.12).
Adding a bit of excitement, Dixon stumbled with 100 meters to go in the race. After rolling, being stepped on and dislocating a finger, Dixon finished the race in a season best time.  
"Cross Country is usually not a contact sport, but with almost 400 runners on a tight course, kids were getting spiked, falling, and elbows were flying,” Dixon said.
The team was pleased with the results. The season goal for the Cardinals was to place in the top 15 at the state meet. The Louisville event was preparatory toward that goal.
The boys junior varsity team placed 16th in their race. Jacob Mansfield was the Cards’ top finisher followed by Alan Barnett, Brandon Burris, Aaron Barnett, Gary Coleman, and John Dixon.
In the girls varsity competition, Tiffany Toler led the Lady Cards with a 23rd-place finish out of 308 runners.
Toler's time in the 5K distance was 20:00.31. Lydia Gapp was Clark's second finisher running the distance in 22:32.73. Following Gapp were team mates Alyssa Gaunce (23:30.65), Lindy Darnell (23:31.81), and Genna Petrey (23:43.20).
Bowling Green placed first, while the Lady Cards placed 28th and regional rival Lincoln County placed 32nd.
In the Womens Silver College race Kate Evans of Winchester led the Centre College squad to an eighth-place finish in the field of 32 full teams.
Evans completed the 5k race in a personal best time of 20:40.29.
"Running in college is a completely different experience than running in high school,” Evans said, adding that she enjoyed the support from her former high school teammates.